Pig-sties go posh

Soho Farmhouse wants to add to its cottages, wooden cabins and tents by accommodating guests in glorified pigsties.

IT attracts celebrities and royals to a rural retreat.

And now Soho Farmhouse wants to add to its cottages, wooden cabins and tents by accommodating guests in glorified pigsties.

But the upmarket club’s plans to build 10corrugated iron and timber arks to provide an extra 40 rooms have horrified locals.

They claim the proposals will increase traffic on the already congested country roads near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

Retired judge Charles Harris, 72, is among those to protest to West Oxfordshire council. He said: “If people want to stay in tin shacks, they should go elsewhere.”

Rupert Massey, clerk and treasurer of Westcote Barton parish meeting, said Soho Farmhouse had led to increased traffic on the roads. Most visitors were London types “not used to driving on small country lanes”.

Charles Heneage wrote: “Every day I am almost driven off the road by cars that are clearly driven by members of Soho House, most of them speaking on hand-held mobile phones.”

The retreat, which costs from £350 (R5630) a night for non-members, opened in 2015 on a former farm in Great Tew.

Guests have included Prince Harry and his girlfriend, Meghan Markle, while its opening party was attended by the then UK prime minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha.

It is part of the Soho House chain and claims to have revitalised the economy in part of the Cotswolds where the “Chipping Norton set” of celebrities and politicians have homes.

A Soho House spokesman said: “We've had a great response from most of the community.

"We're listening to concerns on traffic and the quality of the surrounding roads, and will be investing in managing and improving both." - Daily Mail